This invention refers to a computer-assisted method for designing garments. The method covers the design of the desired garment starting from a basic model or three-dimensional garment mold and the semiautomatic design of patterns starting from this three-dimensional garment mold already modified.
The quality and value of any garment depend, to a large extent, on the characteristics of the fabrics and the well-cut and pattern making which were created with. A garment constitutes, basically, a complex surface that adapts more or less to the tree-dimensional volume of the person who wears it. The difficulty comes from the fact that each garment piece is obtained from a flat surface that must be joined to the rest of the pieces and has to be adapted to the different volumes of the individual body. With current techniques there are various ways to design garments by means of computer-assisted methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,420 of Gerber announces a procedure to produce garments starting from three-dimensional patterns. This procedure comprises, first of all, the action of digitalizing a body to be equipped with the garment by means of a robotic device connected to a computer. Then, it is necessary to deal with the digital details of the obtained coordinates to transfer orders to another robotic device connected to the computer equipped with a tool that confirms the output of a job. Then it would be necessary to give this work piece a three-dimensional surface corresponding to a specific area of the above mentioned body. And finally, it is necessary to physically model a piece or pattern of the garment with a plastic material using the aforementioned work piece. Repeating these operations for different areas of the body and assembling the obtained pieces or patterns, the entire garment is made up. The procedure envisages the possibility of draping the plastic material to communicate the garment piece one or more characteristics nor present initially in the plastic material.
The above mentioned patent of Gerber has a disadvantage however: it only provides garments in a plastic material that can be modeled and it needs of a three-dimensional model, previously designed, to be digitalized in order to obtain the molds of the patterns. In other words, it is more a mechanism to produce molds of patterns in a plastic material than a designing tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,568 of Beavin describes a computer and a method to design garments that comprises digitalizing the client's body, including anatomical measurements, constitution, weight, photographic details, etc., to create a three-dimensional mannequin of the client. This mannequin could be digitally animated. Then, it is necessary to introduce details of the fabric chosen to be assigned to a preselected garment. These details should include fabric's wear and friction characteristics, environmental information, such as temperature and humidity. The performance of the above mentioned garment is processed during the mannequin's movement. With this information we obtain some parameters of wear and life-span of the garment that are used to optimize the garment's adaptation to each individual client. It is even possible to show the client the results by means of a virtual image in motion.
However, in the procedure of the patent of Beavin the garment has to be previously designed and digitalized. The system only optimizes its characteristics starting from the client's attributes and the conditional environmental conditions in which the garment will be worn.